expr wrote:
Sell the pittsburgh voice and get the quad LPG from sputnik! It's so worth 16hp. It's by far the best sounding LPG in euro. Much closer to a Buchla 292 than the Optomix, which I find a bit dull sounding. Plus it bleeds a lot more.

I ended up pulling the trigger on the Optomix. I do see the vca/vcf down the road. I had planned to get the delay next but not sure now, it might just be the vca/vcf.

Just got the mixer yesterday and tested it out. The mixer sounds great, mutes and panning work well. I did not have a chance yet to really test the CV control over the panning on channels 1 & 6 but it does work as advertised. The only "issue" on my particular unit is that it appears the potentiometer for the Direct Out level control is mounted upside down on the PCB. I will test further this evening and report back. Other than that it appears to be a well made product.

bc3 wrote:Just got the mixer yesterday and tested it out. The mixer sounds great, mutes and panning work well. (...)The only "issue" on my particular unit is that it appears the potentiometer for the Direct Out level control is mounted upside down on the PCB. I will test further this evening and report back. Other than that it appears to be a well made product.

Hi - I just received the Mixer and VCA/F today, I'm not too happy about the panning by CV. I tried modulating with EMW LFO (tri or square) and with a different 5V modulation source through QMI, both resulted in abrupt "clicks" as the panning sets it, even with a slow/soft triangle, that pretty much makes CV panning useless to me, and with zero documentation on the CV input (none in the box, and link to "manual" on website just reloads the page here..), I'm not sure if the issue is with voltage or the unit itself. After disconnecting the CV panning cable, there is several seconds of noise going into the mix, almost like there is some "stored up" voltage (capacitor?) that is released slowly...very nasty (not in a good way). Except for this the mixer seems fine.

My direct out is also mounted upside down, confusing, but I'm not using this feature anyhow.

bc3 wrote:Just got the mixer yesterday and tested it out. The mixer sounds great, mutes and panning work well. (...)The only "issue" on my particular unit is that it appears the potentiometer for the Direct Out level control is mounted upside down on the PCB. I will test further this evening and report back. Other than that it appears to be a well made product.

Hi - I just received the Mixer and VCA/F today, I'm not too happy about the panning by CV. I tried modulating with EMW LFO (tri or square) and with a different 5V modulation source through QMI, both resulted in abrupt "clicks" as the panning sets it, even with a slow/soft triangle, that pretty much makes CV panning useless to me, and with zero documentation on the CV input (none in the box, and link to "manual" on website just reloads the page here..), I'm not sure if the issue is with voltage or the unit itself. After disconnecting the CV panning cable, there is several seconds of noise going into the mix, almost like there is some "stored up" voltage (capacitor?) that is released slowly...very nasty (not in a good way). Except for this the mixer seems fine.

My direct out is also mounted upside down, confusing, but I'm not using this feature anyhow.

Regarding the 4x VCA/F, pretty happy with this one!

Aw man, that does not sound good - I have a mixer on its way to me.
I believe the panning CV should be +ve voltage only, like with Buchla.
If I'm lucky, I might get mine tonight - if so, I'll report back.

Just wondering about the quad function sputnik module, as far as using it running +5 or +8 volts, what are people finding the different settings are useful for? Have you been experimenting?
People seem to think the vca/vcf responds better to a hotter voltage? Are people using the two together or finding things better mixing other manufactureres with these?

bc3 wrote:Just got the mixer yesterday and tested it out. The mixer sounds great, mutes and panning work well. (...)The only "issue" on my particular unit is that it appears the potentiometer for the Direct Out level control is mounted upside down on the PCB. I will test further this evening and report back. Other than that it appears to be a well made product.

Hi - I just received the Mixer and VCA/F today, I'm not too happy about the panning by CV. I tried modulating with EMW LFO (tri or square) and with a different 5V modulation source through QMI, both resulted in abrupt "clicks" as the panning sets it, even with a slow/soft triangle, that pretty much makes CV panning useless to me, and with zero documentation on the CV input (none in the box, and link to "manual" on website just reloads the page here..), I'm not sure if the issue is with voltage or the unit itself. After disconnecting the CV panning cable, there is several seconds of noise going into the mix, almost like there is some "stored up" voltage (capacitor?) that is released slowly...very nasty (not in a good way). Except for this the mixer seems fine.

My direct out is also mounted upside down, confusing, but I'm not using this feature anyhow.

Regarding the 4x VCA/F, pretty happy with this one!

Aw man, that does not sound good - I have a mixer on its way to me.
I believe the panning CV should be +ve voltage only, like with Buchla.
If I'm lucky, I might get mine tonight - if so, I'll report back.

knows wrote:Just wondering about the quad function sputnik module, as far as using it running +5 or +8 volts, what are people finding the different settings are useful for? Have you been experimenting?
People seem to think the vca/vcf responds better to a hotter voltage? Are people using the two together or finding things better mixing other manufactureres with these?

ive been using both. with quad function->vca/vcf i noticed the pulse output is quieter then using the out output.

just started to experiment with with the +8 will have to get back to you on that one.

Just to put some perspective on the voltage range of the West Coast Random Modules. At first I was a little concerned, as I've just got a load of these modules in stock, and am actually just about to post some of them out!

I tested my Doepfer a149-1 Source of Uncertainty module (also based in part on the buchla) and that too is 0-5v, which I've never found to be a problem

I then tested the main output of the Turing Machine, and that's about the same again. Neither go anywhere near 10v...or even 8v.

Bear in mind that is 5 octaves in terms of pitch, and if you are wanting to send out to control anything non-pitch related, you can merely amplify it a bit in whatever way you have available.

In terms of pitch control I actually find that 0-5v is far more useful, as things like the (otherwise wonderful) z8000 sequencer, which has a 0-10v range, is WAY too much...and takes oscs outside my hearing range! That ALWAYS needs attenuation

It mostly depends on how it'll work with the modules you have. The Wogglebug and Noisering go 0-10V, which is what I'm used to, and is useful for modulating (with offset) CV inputs that have a range of -5V to 5V, or, as on some modules I have, 0-10V. These aren't pitch inputs, of course. Voltages over 5V are also useful for opening LPGs and getting wide responses from filter frequency CVs.

The Sputnik modules seem adapted to use 0-5V inputs in most, if not all, cases, so the WCRS works well within that system.

If you do any testing on the WCRS, I'd be curious whether you see the same sample & hold behavior I've seen on a couple of units now: on the "all pulses CV output, it doesn't seem to lock onto the input voltage until you've triggered the circuit with a pulse several times. The faster the input voltage is moving, the more inaccurate the output will be. This makes it not so great for sampling changing pitch CVs - it sounds very sloppy.

bc3 wrote:Just got the mixer yesterday and tested it out. The mixer sounds great, mutes and panning work well. (...)The only "issue" on my particular unit is that it appears the potentiometer for the Direct Out level control is mounted upside down on the PCB. I will test further this evening and report back. Other than that it appears to be a well made product.

Hi - I just received the Mixer and VCA/F today, I'm not too happy about the panning by CV. I tried modulating with EMW LFO (tri or square) and with a different 5V modulation source through QMI, both resulted in abrupt "clicks" as the panning sets it, even with a slow/soft triangle, that pretty much makes CV panning useless to me, and with zero documentation on the CV input (none in the box, and link to "manual" on website just reloads the page here..), I'm not sure if the issue is with voltage or the unit itself. After disconnecting the CV panning cable, there is several seconds of noise going into the mix, almost like there is some "stored up" voltage (capacitor?) that is released slowly...very nasty (not in a good way). Except for this the mixer seems fine.

My direct out is also mounted upside down, confusing, but I'm not using this feature anyhow.

Regarding the 4x VCA/F, pretty happy with this one!

Aw man, that does not sound good - I have a mixer on its way to me.
I believe the panning CV should be +ve voltage only, like with Buchla.
If I'm lucky, I might get mine tonight - if so, I'll report back.

Wow, this post got me in a panic too - so I rushed upstairs to test it out (got someone coming round to possibly buy one later!)

Have tried all inputs with sine waves going directly into them, and have noticed virtually nothing in the way of clipping. Maybe a VERY subtle "rounding-off" when run at full tilt, but nothing to worry about.

Bear in mind I have only been testing the inputs one at a time so far, rather than a mix - so maybe you have to be a bit more careful when combining multiple inputs, in order to not clip the output bus (this is the same with all mixers)

I then tried the panning, and am pleased to report that - certainly on mine - there is zero clicking when used to pan back and forth. And that's on a LOW sine wave, so you'd hear it if there was.

Have been using an output from Maths, with the output attenuated down to nearer 5v. Works exactly as expected.

Obviously you WILL hear clicks and pops if you use a saw/ square or similar "edged" modulation source - and sometimes digital mod sources can have unwanted artifacts which can cause these kind of things. I also had various LFOS that were no good for this kind of job, and added little clicks/ pops at their peaks, as the sines/ triangles were essentially shaped saw waves which had every so tiny glitches in the waveforms, which can cause clicks/pops when used to modulate VCAs 9and sometimes filters too)

I'm an early adopter of Sputnik modules. I have a DWG (258 clone) and a DFG (half a 281) and a couple more builds from Roman (a YuSynth dual slew limiter and a Polivoks filter clone), all in MU format. I wanted to buy the MU WCRS also, but I was out of funds.

Anyway, in my eurorack I have the Noisering and Wogglebug. Has anyone compared these to the WCRS in terms of functionality?

bc3 wrote:Just got the mixer yesterday and tested it out. The mixer sounds great, mutes and panning work well. (...)The only "issue" on my particular unit is that it appears the potentiometer for the Direct Out level control is mounted upside down on the PCB. I will test further this evening and report back. Other than that it appears to be a well made product.

Hi - I just received the Mixer and VCA/F today, I'm not too happy about the panning by CV. (...)

My direct out is also mounted upside down, confusing, but I'm not using this feature anyhow.

(..)

Wow, this post got me in a panic too - so I rushed upstairs to test it out (got someone coming round to possibly buy one later!)

Have tried all inputs with sine waves going directly into them, and have noticed virtually nothing in the way of clipping. Maybe a VERY subtle "rounding-off" when run at full tilt, but nothing to worry about.

Bear in mind I have only been testing the inputs one at a time so far, rather than a mix - so maybe you have to be a bit more careful when combining multiple inputs, in order to not clip the output bus (this is the same with all mixers)

I then tried the panning, and am pleased to report that - certainly on mine - there is zero clicking when used to pan back and forth. And that's on a LOW sine wave, so you'd hear it if there was.
(..)